If Michael Mann’s “Heat” is the filet mignon of cops and
robbers stories on screen, “Den Of Thieves” plays more like the Big Mac version
— and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a film that knows exactly what
it is: it might not be good for you, but it’s a satisfying enough meal when
you’re in the moment. Directed by Christian Gudegas
(the screenwriter of “London Has Fallen,” making his directorial debut), this
is the type of movie whose tagline announces it as a “gritty crime saga,” which
mostly means that it’s way too long, and its characters swear a lot.
Gerard
Butler continues his streak of devil-may-care career choices to star as “Big
Nick” Flanagan, head of the elite Major Crimes unit of the LA County Sheriff’s
Department. The squad’s down-and-dirty methods entail a blatant disregard for
the law they claim to uphold, but they supposedly get results.
Borrowing
the parallel story structure of “Heat,” the film also follows former marine Ray
Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) and his bank robbing crew,
which includes Enson (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson),
Bosco (Evan Jones), and Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). The latter is a new
addition, acting as the gang’s getaway driver. As Flanagan and his men pursue
the crooks, poor Donnie ends up being the one Nick and his officers lean on to
get information about Merrimen’s plans to carry out a
daring heist at the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve.
After an
exciting enough opening action cue involving the heist of an armored truck, the
film’s first half gets bogged down in some half-hearted character development.
The script, co-written by Gudegas with Paul Scheuring, pads out its story with extraneous plotlines,
the most notable of which showing how Nick’s immersion in his work has led to
the disintegration of his marriage. That plot uses scenes of Nick’s wife (Dawn Olivieri) walking out and taking their two young daughters
to milk our emotions, but then drops that thread entirely. It’s meant to add
some psychological depth to Butler’s character, but it just feels clichรฉd and
tedious.
It’s hard to
understate exactly how much Gudegas shamelessly cribs
from “Heat” with “Den of Thieves,” right down to its digital photography — capably
carried off here by cinematographer Terry Stacey — and synth score from Cliff
Martinez. The filmmaker trades the former film’s elegance for something a bit
pulpier, but in borrowing so much, there’s no way for “Den of Thieves” to
escape feeling hopelessly derivative.
In a film
like this, the question isn’t whether there will be a scene set inside a
neon-lit strip club, only how soon it’ll be before we get there. And while it’s
perhaps not surprising that Olivieri is the only
female role of note — with the rest of film’s female roles reserved only for
strippers and prostitutes — it’s disappointing nonetheless.
As someone
who’s never been won over by Butler’s performances, his work here is fine
enough, even if he often comes off like sweaty, swollen Russell Crowe.
Schreiber fares better, injecting Merrimen with an
understated sense of menace. In another of the film’s boneheaded attempts at
character development, we learn that the two men have had an animosity toward
one another that’s existed since they played on rival high school football
teams. De Niro and Pacino this pair is not.
Thankfully,
the film’s second half picks up significantly, getting back to the action we
expect from a bank heist shoot-em-up by delivering a
fun heist sequence and well-staged climactic shootout. These set pieces manage
to build up some tension, even when some of the plot details remain somewhat
murkily sketched in. The script tosses in a few twists, though the plot
machinations strain credibility, they’re no less ludicrous than what came
before, and they’re at least entertaining.
But the best
decision the director made was to cast O’Shea Jackson Jr. in his movie. After
memorably bursting onto the scene playing his father, Ice Cube, in “Straight Outta Compton,” Jackson Jr. followed that up with a
wonderful scene-stealing turn in last year’s black comedy “Ingrid Goes West.”
The guy’s clearly a star, and it’s to Gudegas’s
credit that at least he knows it, giving Donnie the film’s most compelling arc.
He’s the film’s secret weapon. “Den of Thieves” is often by-the-numbers, but
it’s riveting any time Jackson Jr.’s on screen.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2018.
